


As long as we're together, no I can't get much higher

by Dylanobrienisbatman



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Christmas, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Christmas, First Kiss, Found Family, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, Minor Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Mutual Pining, Romantic Gestures, Secret Santa, Surprise Kiss, Zookeeper AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28275999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dylanobrienisbatman/pseuds/Dylanobrienisbatman
Summary: Murphy has only known Raven for a little while, but the longer he spends getting to know her, the more he realises that there’s no hope of him not falling in love with her.So when he gets her for Secret Santa, he makes it his mission to nail it.
Relationships: John Murphy/Raven Reyes
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Chopped: Holiday Trope Exchange





	As long as we're together, no I can't get much higher

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the Chopped Holiday Trope Exchange!! My tropes were:
> 
> \- zookeeper AU  
> \- treasure hunt  
> \- secret places  
> \- secret Santa

The little dinner party gathering that Jasper was throwing had devolved quickly into a boisterous and hilarious night. Miller was in a loud game of mario kart with Atom on the couch, Octavia perched on the armrest next to Atom, cheering him on while she loudly called winner, her fingers already itching for a controller. Monty had arrived with a vat of mulled wine he had made himself, which tasted delicious but was so strong it would take two cups before you probably shouldn’t drive, so Murphy sipped his slowly, watching the crowd around them. Bellamy sat on the floor, his head resting on Clarke’s shins from where she was sitting cross legged in the chair cheering loudly for Miller to kick Atom’s ass. Harper and Monroe were the only ones not focused on the game, huddled on the smaller edge of the couch deep in conversation, blind to the world around them. Jasper was in the kitchen, and Murphy knew he’d soon be asked for his help with something in there, but he was in no rush to be overly available. Surrounded by friends, he knew the warmth in his chest was coming from more than the wine.

And he was watching Raven Reyes somehow fix a part of a motorcycle while still loudly spectating the race happening on the screen, sparing down only the occasional glance to check her work. Her hurried and frustrated ‘no no nonono DAMN IT’ as Atom’s car crashed into a wall, spinning out over the edge of the map seemed to match speed and tempo with the twist of her wrist as she tightened a screw, the irritated way she flung her arms into the air making him laugh. She caught his gaze and winked at him, and he just rolled his eyes, earning him a smirk as she found the screw mostly blind and kept on working as if nothing had happened. 

She was a marvel. 

In truth they barely spoke up until a few weeks ago. When they met, she was new to their little group, pulled in by Clarke after a bad mutual breakup (a cheating boyfriend), Raven had only been around since about June, and Murphy had only been welcomed back in August after a… misunderstanding with Bellamy had left him ostracised for about a year. By the time he had been welcomed back, his reputation had been damaged enough that she hadn’t made much effort to get to know him at first. 

But things had changed… pretty recently. A few weeks ago, Bellamy and Clarke blew off a group thing in lieu of a date night, a text to their group thread cancelling only hours before. He couldn’t blame them, and for about two hours his night seemed to be heading towards bed at 8pm, before Raven texted him at 730. 

**Raven:** Wanna just go? I paid for these tickets, if they dont wanna come thats on them lol. 

He looked at the ticket on his bedside table, some band called Sunset Curve that Raven had mentioned wanting to see. The time stamp read 8:00pm. He had really only said he’d go because Raven was going to be there, he knew a few of their songs but hadn’t really considered seeing them live before she had sent out a text to a few of them as an invite. He was pretty warm, wrapped in a blanket on the couch… 

**Murphy** : Do you care about whoever is opening, or do I need to hurry to get dressed. 

**Raven** : Take your time! Wanna meet there at 8:45? 

Murphy shot her a thumbs up, and stood up off his couch in a mixture of groggy, from almost falling asleep on the couch, and excited at the prospect of a night with Raven, just the two of them. He had not been disappointed. He arrived at the venue to see her already waiting for him, a white tank top bright against her warm brown skin, her red jacket perched on her shoulders instead of on, bright against her dark, slouchy jeans with rips all across them. She smiled huge and bright when she saw him, and paid for the first beers. He was mesmerised at first, but as the night got started he relaxed immediately. She was just  _ fun _ . She had teased him, in a lighthearted and fun way, a way that made it clear she was comfortable around him, and he let himself play right back, and before he knew it he felt just as at ease as she seemed. They drank and danced around, and Raven sang along loudly. 

The night went off without a hitch, and now, he was staring at her across the room at this christmas party, and feeling like an awkward school boy with a crush on the girl who was way too popular for him. He liked her. He sort of thought maybe she liked him too, but as soon as he actually realised what he was feeling he turned into a 13 year old again. Awkward and fumbling. To her credit, she seemed to find it endearing, and was being extremely patient with his nonsense. 

So when he pulled her name for secret santa, he basically felt like the stars had aligned. His chance was presenting itself on a silver platter, all he had to do was reach out and grab it. He just had to find the perfect gift for Raven, which also meant he’d have to make an effort to get to know her better.

The party went on long after, but his 5am monday morning start at work had him hauling ass to get the last train home, and falling asleep hoping that he didn’t blow his shot. 

The next morning his mind was racing all the way to work, his distraction causing him to run into not one but two other keepers before he got to the Grizzly enclosures, Harper already waiting inside, busied over the log of the night before in the back office.

“Bernard needs his left eye checked again today.” She said in lieu of a greeting. 

“I know, I’ve already got Dr. Jones on her way in.” He responded as he dropped the spare muffin he brought from home on her desk, dropping his bag in the chair behind her. “Feeding schedule?”

“I think everything is good for now, and it looks like we’re due for a Search next Thursday.” 

“Put me in coach.” He said driely, and she tossed the wrapper at his head. 

Raven shot him a text around 1 asking if he wanted to grab a beer after work. 

Let the games begin, he thought to himself as he responded, asking for an hour after to shower so he didn’t smell like a literal zoo. 

-

Spending time with Raven was never a chore, but trying to find a way to goad the perfect gift out of her while also keeping it on the down low, so she wouldn’t guess he was her secret santa, was turning out to be quite the task. His problem? She didn’t really seem all that interested in stuff. 

Her loft was pretty sparse, aside from the motorcycle she was building in her living room space, but in a way that felt intentional rather than making the space feel empty. She had a record player, and by the looks of it she had built that too, and her collection was substantial, but a record seemed impersonal. Any gadget or tool he could think of, she either had one already, or he was sure she’d rather build it herself. She didn’t seem to keep trinkets or figurines, aside from a little metal bird she kept hanging from the knob on her bathroom cabinet. She had a pretty good sized book collection, but it was full of mechanical engineering textbooks and other such things that he wouldn’t be able to parse through on a good day, and he’d have no idea where to even start looking for something like that. He never even really saw her wear jewelry for crying out loud. 

He tried to get her to say something, give something away, but her answers were never anything concrete. A week and a half in, he’d spent every night hanging out with her and all he had to go on was that she used peppermint scented shampoo, liked strong floral candles, couldn’t cook to save her life, and liked cut flowers instead of plants because she could never keep a plant alive. 

Candles and flowers not only made him want to gag with how cheesy it sounded, but also would be an incredibly lame gift. 

And he was not buying her shampoo. Because nothing says “i love you” like giving a girl a hint to bathe more. 

He burned the spices and garlic while he was making himself a curry, the smoke from the burning red pepper bringing him out of his mind to cough loudly. Half of him was trying to convince him that he was taking this too seriously. That he could just buy her a simple, nice gift, ask her out, and it would be fine. But the other half of him had taken off running the second he read her name on that stupid piece of paper, and there was no stopping it now. It had to be perfect, because… it just did. 

He put on something he’d seen before, but didn’t remember that well, and tried to focus on that instead of his predicament, if only so he didn’t burn his apartment down. It went alright for most of the evening, but when he shut his phone off to finally go to sleep, his mind chased itself around for almost two hours before the exhaustion of the day finally took over and he fell into a fitful sleep. 

He woke up exhausted, and he went through the motions of his morning. He was leaning on his counter, his coffee warming his fingers, when his morning alarm startled him.

***TIME TO LEAVE: SEARCH MORNING***

Search mornings always brought him a strange sense of calm. There were no surprises, in that hour long window. It was methodical. Show up, weigh the food, cut the food, hide the food. Always the same. Each thing took just enough focus to allow him to go through his morning almost meditatively, calming his mind enough to let him work out the problem. 

Moving slowly through the paces, he measured out huge wagons full of pumpkins, apples, honeycomb, and He tucked his headphones in as he wound his way through the enclosure, finding hollowed out tree trunks, huge bushes, and enrichment toys to stash food in. They did this about once a month, and the bears loved it. They’d romp through the enclosure all morning finding every last piece of it.

And suddenly a lightbulb went off in his head. 

An hour and a half later Harper walked in to find Murphy sitting in the desk chair directly in front of the door, an eager smile on his face. 

“Hey McIntyre, good morning, I need your help.” 

He ranted for a good 15 minutes, trying to ignore the bemused expression Harper had painted across her face, before she put him out of his misery. 

“You really like her, huh?” She asked with a grin that would have seemed mocking if it had been anyone but Harper. 

“That obvious?” He asked, burying his face in his hands. 

“Yeah.” She smiled as he rolled his eyes. “But, I think it’s a great idea. And I’d be willing to bet Diyoza would be down to let you do it, too.” 

“Think I can pull it off?” 

“Oh absolutely not.” He opened his mouth to protest before he saw her face. “But with my help? Absolutely. 

\- 

He called Raven in the morning, ready to extend an invitation for his most perfect gift, but when she answered on the second ring and her voice sounded choked and strained, the words died in his mouth. 

“Hey are you alright?” He asked in lieu of his original proposal, and all he got in response was a choked sob. “I’ll be right over.” He said quickly before hanging up, pulling on a coat and heading out into the flurry of the first snow of the season. 

The trains seemed to take forever to get to him, and he spent a solid 5 minutes on the platform contemplating whether she would even want him to come over, but he never turned around. Instead he boldly knocked on her door exactly 37 minutes after he had hung up the phone. 

She answered with red eyes and tear streaked cheeks, and he found himself reaching out to wrap her in a hug before he even realised what he was doing. Thankfully, she came willingly, burying her face in his chest and reaching up to hold on to his shoulders tightly. 

They stood like that for a while, just inside the door of her apartment, and he happily let them. Eventually she pulled away, a sheepish look on her face as she turned away from him to get a tissue to blow her nose. As if he wasn’t falling more in love with her by the second. 

They didn’t talk much through the next 20 minutes or so, until she had made them both a cup of tea and they had settled into opposite corners of her couch. Raven’s knees were tucked up into her chest, and he could feel the tension in the room. He waited patiently for her to speak. 

“Thanks for coming.” She whispered over the rim of her cup, the words so soft they only barely moved the steam. He just nodded and smiled, waiting. Even though he had only known her a little while now, he knew better than to push. He didn’t have to wait long, though she did reach down and grab a small bottle of whiskey from her side table and take a sizable swig before she spoke up. 

“You know what happened over the summer, with Clarke?” She asked, and he nodded. They all knew that story. Clarke had started seeing some new guy, Finn, some feeble attempt at handling Bellamy and his girlfriend Gina inviting them all to the lake for a weekend away. About a month in, Clarke met Raven, Finn’s fiance. It had been explosive to say the least. Raven sayed quiet again, her eyes almost glazed over as she stared out the window. 

“Can we go somewhere?” She asked suddenly, startling him as she stood, setting her mug down and reaching for her coat before he could even respond. He jumped from the couch and grabbed his own, following her out the door. 

She led the way, taking sharp turns as if she was only just remembering which way to go each time. Two trains and a long walk later, their shoes wet from the slush that had formed on the sidewalks, they arrived at some little tiny square of green out in the Rockaways. It would be generous to call it a park, only about the size of a vacant lot and wildly overgrown, but there was a little bench and a couple of barren trees. She walked into the green, sweeping off the snow to sit on the bench, guestering for him to follow. 

His nose was freezing, and he tucked his fingers between his thighs to keep them warm, but he didn’t complain. “What are we doing here?” He asked instead. 

“When I was a kid, around 15, my mom kicked me out of the house. Some boyfriend she had, he tried to get handsy with me one night, and when I told her, he called me a liar. She told me that if I was going to make up lies about him then I should just leave, so I did. I slept on this bench for almost two weeks before someone helped me.” She was staring straight out ahead, her jaw set, but he could see the anxiety in her hands as she wrung them in her lap. “Finn found me out here. We went to school together, he walked by one day after practice and saw me. He practically dragged me to his house, and I ended up living with them until I went to college. His mom fussed over me like more than anyone ever had in my entire life,” She said with a laugh, “It was like she never believed I had really eaten enough, gotten enough, had enough.” 

She took a breath, looking down at her hands. 

“I used to come here sometimes, after. You can see my moms house from here if you know where to look.” She paused, reaching over to point a small red house all the way on the other end of the street. You could only see the back of it, the front facing the side street, but he could tell it had become pretty run down. “Finn was the only person who ever knew about this place… about that time in my life.” He took a breath, and when she glanced over at him she held his gaze for a moment before continuing. “I hadn’t been back here since Finn… since this summer.” 

He reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. He loosened his grip to let her pull away but she left it, lacing their fingers together. 

“I woke up this morning, and there was snow.” She smiled almost in spite of herself, and he laughed. “Snow is always my favourite. It’s like the world was painted overnight, clean and fresh and new. It’s beautiful, and quiet. I used to wake up every year on the first snow and force Finn to walk around in it with me. He always complained, but he also always indulged me.” He thought maybe he was starting to see why she had been crying. “When I saw the snow, I went to call him, like my instincts just took over and I had typed in his number before I remembered.” 

“Raven I-” He started to speak but she cut him off.    
“You called just a couple minutes later.” She whispered, turning to face him again for a brief moment, holding eye contact in a way that made him want to simultaneously turn away and hold her gaze forever. She turned away before he did, and he let out a heavy breath. “You were there, right when I needed you most, and you didn’t even know it.”

They sat in silence for a little while, their fingers intertwined, his ears numb from the cold, before she spoke again. 

“I honestly don’t know why I made you come here.”

“I’m glad you did.” He said, honesty and love burning up together in his chest. 

“Thanks for being here.” She said again, and he just shook his head. 

“As if I’d be anywhere else.” He said, trying to feign ease as if he hadn’t just admitted that his chest had been cracked open and his heart was hers for the taking. 

They didn’t stay long after that. She showed him a little raven that she had scratched into the back of the bench, and then they started on their way. They kept their fingers laced together, and he felt like he was floating the whole way home. 

He was lying in bed that night before he realised he hadn’t ever invited her to her gift, but he rolled over and fell asleep with ease, the pressure of that looming day lessened somehow. 

\- 

“You seriously don’t even know what kind of flowers she LIKES?” Monroe asked from her spot lounging across Harper’s lap, her fingers drawing absent patterns on Harper’s knees. 

“Nobody asked you Zoe.” He sneered as she went back to studying the map of the zoo, trying to pick out the perfect place for each gift. 

“You literally did, you asked for our help.” She said, and he rolled his eyes. 

“I did not ask for  _ your _ help, I asked for your  _ wife’s _ help, thank you.” 

“We are one being, Jonathan.” 

“That’s not even my name!” Exasperation mixed with endearment was all he ever felt for Zoe, but the exasperation was always outweighed by the endearment, even on days like today. 

“Babe, leave him alone, he’s  _ nervous _ .” Harper teased, and he gave up focusing to throw the pencil across the room at her. 

He missed, but he felt like he had made his point well enough. 

“Just get her something pretty. You know what colours she likes, reds, oranges, yellows, just go with that and you’ll do fine.” 

“But don’t get her roses, that’s so cliche.”

“Roses are pretty!” Harper protested, and Murphy wondered if Harper was throwing hints that she wanted roses. To her credit, Zoe leaned up to press a kiss under Harper’s chin and promised roses on her next trip to the store. 

“The flowers aren’t even the important part, anyway!” He said, going back to his map with a new pencil and renewed concentration. “It’s more the gesture of the flowers than anything else.” 

“Sure.” Monroe responded, but she finally fell quiet as Harper massaged into her scalp and scrolled through her phone to find the perfect recipe for him. 

“Does she eat fish?” 

“We’re eating outside, at the zoo. Fish feels a little risky.” 

“Right. What about chicken?” 

“I’m pretty sure she eats chicken, yes.” 

Harper hummed absently as she kept looking. 

“Have you actually invited her yet?” Harper asked almost half an hour later, breaking the quiet. 

Murphy paused, and cringed as he heard her sit up on the couch and gasp. 

“MURPHY!” 

“What!?!” He whined, trying to hide from her somehow. “It’s still like 4 days away.” 

“What if she has plans?!” 

He didn’t want to tell them that he was afraid to ask after the other day. Afraid to break this sort of gentle swell their relationship had experienced. What if he scared her off? Or made her feel weird? She had exposed herself to him, she had made herself vulnerable and shown him something personal about her, and his response would be too... invite her to a fancy dinner? He wanted to just go outside and bury his head in the dirt. Flowers, candles, little treats, and a nice dinner… somehow it felt silly now, after the other day. He knew it was romantic, it was a great and thoughtful first date. His friends had all said so. But it didn’t matter, because it felt empty. 

All of a sudden he stood up, knocking his pencils off the table in a rush.    
“I have to go.” He said, and left before Harper could get in another word. 

He texted Raven an address and asked her to meet him there. 20 minutes later they were standing in front of the Department of Biology at NYU. 

She stepped up next to him silently, standing just for a moment before sliding her hand into his and squeezing gently. 

“You trying to tell me something, Murphy?” She asked, teasing, and he smiled. 

“Yeah, Reyes, I'M telling YOU to go to school.” He rolled his eyes, the audacity of the idea shocking to him. She seemed to sense that this was his moment, the way the other day had been hers, so she just smiled and said nothing. 

“This was the first place I ever felt at home. This building, right here.” 

She stared up at the brick facade, up and up until her head was tipped back and her warm breath rose up in a column from her mouth. She took a deep breath and looked at him, as if offering him the chance to continue. He took it. 

“When I was a kid, my house was so full of love. I was surrounded by it, bathed in it constantly. But when I was 11, my house caught fire, and my dad ran back in to get me, because I was too scared to run out on my own, and he died. My mom she… she never treated me the same after, and by the time I was 15 she was too drunk half the time to even notice me. I got into this place on a full ride, and she still barely even acknowledged me. When I came here, I felt like I belonged somewhere, because they wanted me to be here.”

She nodded, an understanding that only comes from being children in homes like theirs.

“Sometimes, during the holidays, I want to call her.” He had never said those words out loud before, but there they were, drifting away in the warm vapors of his breath. She looked over at him with a soft expression. “One year I even bought a plane ticket back to Arizona, to see her. I never even made it on the plane. She’s never called, in all these years. I’m not sure if she’s even still there.” 

“Sometimes, I’ll sit on that bench and wait until my mom leaves the house. She still lives there, she’s never once come looking for me.” An acknowledgement. A moment of understanding. 

“When I called you the other day, I was going to ask you something. I never got around to it.” 

“Oh?” 

“Yeah, I’m your secret santa.” He said, before he bit his tongue, but it was too late. The words were out. She looked delighted, which was a nice silver lining to him being an idiot. 

“You are?!” She asked, her smile so wide her face seemed to barely contain it. “I’m not yours, unfortunately. What did you get me?” She had a mischievous grin now working its way across her cheeks, and he just shook his head. 

“No spoilers, but are you free on Friday night?” 

“For you? As if I’d be anywhere else.” 

“Okay, be at the Bronx Zoo at 8pm.”

If she was confused, she didn’t say anything, and they turned to leave, fingers still laced together, and he smiled the whole way. 

\- 

Raven arrived at the Bronx Zoo exactly at 8:03pm on Friday night, following his instructions and going around to the service entrance around the side, where she was met with Harper’s smiling face. She hugged her hello, and Harper looked pleased with herself. 

“Here is your map. There are multiple gifts hidden throughout the zoo, with a special surprise at the end! Good luck!”

She handed Raven a map of the park, a flashlight, and a small cloth grocery bag to put everything, and then ran off without another word into the zoo. Raven unfolded the map and smiled when she saw red dots scattered across the page. She texted Murphy that she had arrived, and he sent her a thumbs up text. She pocketed her phone, positioned her flashlight and made her way into the zoo. 

She had never been to the Bronx Zoo, despite growing up in New York, and a little part of her was thrilled that the first time she was going to experience it would be all on her own. She enjoyed the quiet, the space it gave her to let her mind wander to other things. Like Murphy. 

_ Murphy.  _ She wasn’t sure where it had come from, this feeling in her chest when he crossed her thoughts, like she had taken a shot of tequila and it was warming her up from the inside out. It might have been the concert, where they had danced and sang along all night just the two of them. She remembered walking home that night after they parted ways, this giddy energy she hadn’t experienced in years coursing through her. It might have been when they had just started hanging out more, this comfortable ease between them unexpected and so  _ nice.  _ Just  _ nice, _ the way she felt when she was with him. Happy and calm, warm,  _ seen. _

It was definitely before she asked him to come to her house when she was sobbing about a boy that she should have been over by now. Before he had showed up at her door she hadn’t known, not really, why she had asked him to come, until she opened the door and saw his face and realised. He made her feel safe.

Standing now in the closed zoo, the anticipation of what this “gift” he had planned could be, she felt it. That burning in her chest. 

She opened the map, orienting herself, and made her way towards the first little red “x”, near the buffalo. The fencing was lined with red and green fairy lights, Christmas decorations hanging from the street lights and signs, creating a glowy vibe as she wandered, watching the animals play. She had heard that animals were more active at night, and maybe that was bullshit, but as the seals dove and swam and the elk grazed freely she was willing to believe it. 

She came around the corner and found the first gift on her list. 

In a little clearing near the exhibit, Harper and Monroe sat at a little table, warm candle light bathing over them, chatting as they ate. Harper was positively gleeful when she spotted her. 

“You found us!!” She leapt from the chair to wrap her in a hug. 

“I did.” Raven looked around, “what is going on?” 

“No spoilers! But here is your first gift!” Harper passed her a little box, which had a beautiful red silk hair scrunchie inside. She slipped it onto her wrist, smiling. It was the same color as her favorite jacket. 

“Now, onto the next!” 

“And speed it up, Reyes!” 

She shook her head and pressed on. 

She spotted the next “x”, near the tiger exhibit, and made her way. At the front of the enclosure, Monty and Miller were holding hands across the table, the candlelight illuminating Miller’s soft smile. 

“Oh good, you found us!” Miller called as she walked up to the table. 

“For you!” Monty handed her a jar of cocoa butter hand cream, and a little note in Murphy’s messy scrawl. 

“May your hard working hands always be soft and may you always smell of York patties.” 

She let herself giggle a little, tucked the jar into her bag, wished the boys a good night, and kept on. 

At the rhinos, Clarke and Bellamy handed her a Sunset Curve album on vinyl. 

At the bear exhibit, Octavia and Lincoln were there to hand her a thigh holster tool belt, which she had definitely been looking at when he was at her house once. 

At the baboons, Jasper and Maya had a book, “The Untold History of Female Inventors”. A knowing look from Jasper made her blush as she slid it into her bag, smiling brightly. 

“Last one,” he said, nodding at her map, “you ready?” 

“This is unbelievable… he did all of this?” 

Neither of them said a word, but they both smiled at her and nodded in the direction of the final spot on her Christmas treasure map. 

She walked slowly around the bend, finding herself in front of the African Plains exhibit, to find Murphy standing, holding a bouquet of white flowers, in a pair of black slacks, a green sweater, and a high neck black coat. He hadn’t seen her yet, so she walked up and perched her arms on the fence next to him. 

“Lovely night for a walk around the zoo, don’t you think?” 

He startled only a little before a huge grin cracked across his face. “You made it.” His voice was soft and reverent and she wanted to melt. 

“How did you convince all of our friends to show up for this?” She asked, turned to face him, looking up at him as he stepped a little closer. 

“I told them it was for you.” 

“Mhmm.”

“That, and I cooked for all of them.” 

“Ah, makes much more sense.” 

“But Harper and Monroe needed no extra coercing.” 

“Clearly Harper is my best friend, then.”

“That’s what I said.” 

She couldn’t keep herself from smiling, her cheeks were starting to hurt. The whole night had been magical. The Christmas lights giving a warm glow, the quiet of being in the Zoo alone, all of her friends being part of this experience for her. She hadn’t felt this happy in a long time. 

Murphy was gazing at her, and she clocked it as he glanced down at her lips once, twice, three times, but he didn’t do anything. Just stood there, watching her smile. 

“So what’s this last gift?” 

“Oh, oh it’s just my presence.” 

“Ah.” She pretended to look disappointed, and he laughed, a happy bright sound. 

“No, follow me.” He held out his hand, and she laced their fingers together, pulling herself in close to him, their sides pressed together as they walked. “Did you like your gifts?”

“They’re wonderful, but I do believe you went over the price limit.” 

“Probably.” He didn’t seem concerned, and she shook her head at this ridiculous man. 

He led her further into the zoo until they rounded a corner near the giraffe exhibit and a little table with two covered plates emerged. It had red roses in a vase, a bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket on the ground nearby, and little tea light candles spread all around to give the space. He stood awkwardly by her side as she took it all in. 

“I hope it’s not too cheesy, I just… I just really like you and I wanted it to be perfect and I think I did to much and-“ 

She pulled him into her, lifting up onto her tiptoes, and cut him off with a kiss. He was startled still, his arms raised and frozen near her shoulders, but she held the kiss, letting him catch up. He eventually got there with her and reached up to cup her face with both hands, holding her close and leaning into the kiss. They moved their lips slowly together, eyelashes tickling each other's cheeks. He broke away, and she wanted to chase after his lips, but she held herself steady. He pressed his forehead against hers, their noses brushing, and she opened her eyes to catch him smiling wide, his eyes still squeezed shut. He let out a breath, warm on her cheeks. 

“Well that answers that.” He laughed lightly as he spoke. 

“I really like you too.” She whispered in response, and he leaned in to kiss her again, soft and sweet, smiling so hard the kiss was lost in it. She held him there for a moment, before she pulled back sharply, feigning afrontedness. “Well you made dinner for everyone else, now I’m starving. You think you can just keep me distracted with all this kissing and then you won’t have to feed me?” 

He rolled his eyes, an ease washing over him as they fell back into their comfortable relationship, just this time, their fingers were laced together instead of brushing against each other, secretly yearning. 

He led her to the table and he removed the covering, and Raven let her jaw fall open, his cooking never failing to amaze. Before she could ask what he had made, he launched into his performance of a waiter at a fancy restaurant, complete with a towel draped over his arm.

“The chef this evening has prepared a pistachio crusted lamb chop, mashed potatoes and parsnips, and a winter salad in a brown butter vinaigrette.” He bowed a little at the end, and she giggled, catching herself off guard. He lit up at the sound, though, which made her feel warm in her chest. 

The meal was, as expected, wonderful, but for the company she’d suffer through just about anything. They talked until their plates were long empty, getting up from the table only once when a giraffe came up to the fence and Murphy pulled two heads of romaine lettuce from his bag, offering her one so they could feed him. They talked for hours, and her heart felt lighter than it had in years. He walked her to her train, kissing her on the platform, and the only ounce of restraint she had left to keep her from bringing home with her was fighting a losing battle, but when she half attempted to tug him onto the train with her, he just smiled, kissed her cheek, and her go. 

She floated all the way home. 

—- 

When he woke up on Christmas morning, the bed was empty, but he was used to that by now. Even only a few days in bed with her was enough to teach him that she was an early riser. She’d be downstairs in the garage, using the quiet of the morning to do some work on her bike. He rolled out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweats, a jacket, and some socks, and wandered into the kitchen. 

She hadn’t added much in way of decoration, just a little tiny tree on the windowsill, but stacked on the floor below were the few gifts she had bought him, and some gifts from their friends. He turned on the tap, gulping down a glass of water before filling up the moka pot she kept on her stove. The coffee was spitting and bubbling by the time she walked in. 

“Merry Christmas.” She mused, distractedly, pressing a kiss into his temple as she danced around him to grab a glass of water for herself, and then smiling as he passed her a little espresso cup filled to the brim. She took a sip, and sighed. “Hope you know I’m never getting rid of you, not when you make my perfect cup of coffee.” 

“It’s literally just espresso with some brown sugar.” He teased, leaning in to kiss the bitter taste of coffee off her lips. “Merry Christmas.” 

She downed the cup fast, and then wandered to her bathroom, dropping clothes along the way (which already made him crazy. The hamper was right there!) to go rinse off the grease. He has another cup waiting for her when she came back. 

They curled up on the couch together, and they tried to read, but eventually they devolved into lazy kissing, hands skimming over each other’s warm, sleepy skin, until they fell into a nap together. 

They woke up hours later when her stomach grumbled, and he groaned as he stood up, disentangling himself from her warm grip to start their Christmas dinner. 

He thought to himself, as he passed her a little plate of cheese and crackers and meat to munch while he cooked, that this may end up being his favourite Christmas ever. 


End file.
